


There's no place like an old school locker

by goodgollygosh



Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/M, Humanstuck, aradia's a ghost, but she's pretty optimistic about it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-21
Updated: 2013-09-21
Packaged: 2017-12-27 05:38:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/975065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodgollygosh/pseuds/goodgollygosh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: "humanstuck sollux/aradia - aradia is a ghost that lives in sollux's locker at school and hahA WOAH shes super cute and one day shes talking about something weird and ghosty and he tries to kiss her and like misses and falls into his locker and i dont know where im going with this but artistic liberties so yeah"</p><p>Sollux wondered if ghosts were nothing more than a projection of a soul, if the temperature of them varied according to temperament</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

The school was mostly empty by the time Sollux got to his locker. Only teachers and a few scattered clubs remained. Sollux was grateful for the silence this corner of the school offered him; inhabited mostly by older teachers who kept their comments and noise to themselves, he was free to spend as much time as he wanted at his locker without risking a headache. He could already feel one developing, the product of a principal who was a tad too zealous when keeping students in line. Sollux could still recall the loud lecture, punctuated every so often by enthusiastic nods from the teacher who had put him in the position.

It was her fault really, if she had been a decent technology teacher, he might have actually found something productive to do with his time. Instead, she made them do almost nothing but powerpoints, showcasing her own as if they were true works of technological genius. If Sollux felt the need to hack into her powerpoints and add a bit of pizazz to them, he could hardly be blamed. And if the teacher noticed the changed powerpoint used an abundance of blue and red, and was able to pin the deed on Sollux, well, at least she was more competent than he had originally thought.

Still, the detention Sollux had been given was inconvenient, though he tried not to show it. The buses were long gone, which meant he would have to walk home in the sun that always seemed to affect him more than his peers. Even worse, he was late meeting with Aradia, who must have assumed he was upset with her when he didn’t show up. He hadn’t exactly been pleasant that morning, throwing down his books and closing the locker door before Aradia could react to seeing him. She was always so cheerful in the morning, but she hadn’t even had time to smile before he left. Sollux had no idea how a ghost managed t stay so happy, though he expected the fact that she didn’t sleep, and thus didn’t have to experience sleep deprivation, allowed her to give her energetic greetings. Still, even while stifling a giant yawn, he’d usually at least return her smile or nod, even if the people around him, and a near overwhelming desire to go home and sleep, prevented him from talking.

Now he felt guilty for being so short with her, and for throwing his books so roughly into the locker. Even if she couldn’t feel it, the rude gesture might have been enough to make her upset. He hated bothering her during his bad moments, but he knew if he stopped seeing her she’d be even more upset. Besides, he wouldn’t have anywhere to store his stuff. It wasn’t like he would also miss her or anything though. There was absolutely no way Sollux had formed a friendship, or maybe even something more, with a dead girl. Nope, Captor wouldn’t be stupid enough to dream that any relationship with a person lacking a physical form could work. If he hung around his locker more, if he convinced his dad to drive him to school earlier, or kept “accidentally” missing the bus in the afternoon, it was because he didn’t want to disappoint Aradia. She was too kind, too funny, too bright, to disappoint.

Sollux quickly turned the combination on his lock. The locker was the type typically portrayed in movies, wide and tall. There was plenty of room to fit a person inside, and sometimes Sollux wondered if that’s how Aradia had died. If she had been shoved into the locker, and simply forgotten about. It was an unlikely theory, and one Sollux hadn’t bothered to check. It seemed rude to ask how somebody died, and he didn’t like thinking about that part of Aradia’s life. Though she embraced it, the idea of Aradia dying was off topic, a limit imposed by Sollux rather than Aradia. Had he asked, she would have readily supplied him with an answer, but he didn’t really want to know. Whatever had happened to Aradia, it was too disturbing to think about. Sollux wasn’t sure what he’d do if he found out a person was responsible for cutting Aradia’s life so short, and assault was not a charge he wanted on his record.

Sollux opened his locker. Aradia was standing, or rather floating, with her eyebrows raised and arms crossed. A tiny smile betrayed the image she was trying so hard to project.

 “And just where have you been, mister?” Aradia asked, her false sternness outweighed by curiosity.

 “The usual, busy accepting all the awards the school is giving me. We had the ceremony in the detention room this time; I figured the students in there needed a positive role model such as me.” Sollux tried to keep his voice down. Even if every nearby teacher had difficulties hearing, he didn’t want to risk being dragged to the counselor’s office again.

 “Sollux, the school doesn’t make awards for people like you!”

 “Thanks Aradia, you always manage to lift my spirits.” Sollux replied, rolling his eyes as he grabbed a book from under Aradia’s feet.

 “I mean it! I mean, why were you really in detention?”

 “I improved a teacher’s powerpoint.”

 “See, you managed to access the teacher’s presentation, I’m guessing without her knowing until she actually tried to show it to the class. And that’s not even a good example of what you can do! Sollux, you’re going to do big things in your life.”

 Aradia bounced a little up and down, her long black hair following her. She wasn’t completely white and had some color, though she was still see-through. Looking through her red shirt was like looking through half of the 3d glasses Sollux had worn all the time as a kid, though he certainly had never looked anywhere near her chest. Nope.

 “What’s next Aradia, are you going to tell me to use my powers for good, not evil?”

Aradia pretended to seriously consider his question for a moment before answering.

 “Well, I wouldn’t mind watching you create a little chaos… so long as you don’t make too many ghosts here. I don’t want this school to be too crowded!”

Sollux smiled, and Aradia did too. Her teeth would have been perfectly white, if not for the dirty gray locker’s back behind her. They would have been more perfect if she was alive.

After a few more minutes of conversation, Sollux realized he needed to go. If he didn’t get home before his dads did, they would worry about him. Still, the thought of leaving Aradia in the locker did not appeal to him.

 “Hey Aradia, what do you do when school ends?”

Aradia looked surprised, but answered quickly.

 “Usually I explore the school! I’ve seen all the rooms by now, but every day students write new things on their desks and in bathroom stalls. If I get to them before the janitors do, I like pretending I’m looking at old messages from an ancient culture. I wanted to be an archaeologist before I died, you know.”

Somehow it had never occurred to Sollux that Aradia could leave the locker. But if she could leave, that meant—

 “Why do you always meet me at my locker, if you can leave? Why don’t you go to some real ancient ruins, instead of playing pretend? It isn’t as if you wouldn’t have enough time to travel there.”

 “Well, I was pretty young when I died. I change my appearance to reflect how old I should be if I could age, but back then I was just a little kid. I was upset about what I had lost, so I came to the high school to see what I would miss. It got boring after a while, but then I met you! You talked to me, instead of writing me off as a delusion or trick of the light, so I stayed. And I can’t leave you now that I-“

Aradia trailed off, looking visibly embarrassed.

 “Now that you what?” Sollux asked.

Aradia began to talk quickly, in an obvious attempt to backtrack.

 “Well you made the days bearable enough and it’s really my responsibility to welcome any new ghosts so that they won’t be as confused as I was, maybe I could help them pass on instead of staying here like me. It’s really a duty I’ve been slacking off on and-“

Sollux leaned forward in an attempt to kiss Aradia, forgetting she wasn’t solid. He lost his footing and fell through her, as she made a small sound of surprise and stopped what she was saying. He was interested to discover that falling through a ghost didn’t make him cold, like characters felt in books when they experienced the same thing, but warm instead. Sollux wondered if ghosts were nothing more than a projection of a soul, if the temperature of them varied according to temperament

His ponderings were short lived, as he crashed into his locker. Groaning and bruised, Sollux looked around to see if the sound had been loud enough to summon any teachers. Thankfully, it hadn’t. Aradia floated above him, shock keeping her from laughing. Sollux opened his mouth in a desperate attempt to recover his dignity.

 “So…maybe we should visit some ruins sometime. Once I’m out of school, of course. I could take a year before going to college; my dads are always encouraging me to get out more.”

The smile on Aradia’s face made everything- the detention, the fall, worth it.

 “I’d love to Sollux! I can’t imagine anyone I’d rather go with either!”

Aradia was radiant, floating higher than she ever had, before coming back down to where Sollux was still lying on the floor. Leaning down, she kissed him on the cheek. Sollux felt only warmth, which was increased by the blush that soon followed.

When they finally said goodbye, it was with the knowledge that the word would not be permanent.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt:"ghost aradia in sollux’s locker continuation? Uwu"  
> Heck to the yeah

Sollux shifted in the hard metal folding chair as he waited for his peer to run out of clichés that could be applied to a high school graduation. His town’s event center was filled with families waiting for the diplomas to be passed out, evidence that the last four years full of stories, by now exaggerated past even the faintest believability, were finally coming to an end. Somewhere amongst the mass of faces struggling to stifle yawns were his dads and above them, in the corner of the building closest to the stage, was Aradia. She had grown with him in the final years of high school, or at least altered her appearance to give the impression that she had. Not quite as tall as him, her long legs were folded so that her chin could rest on her knees as her gaze wandered across the room. Thankfully she had swapped out her usual skirt for a pair of slim dark pants. She was clearly just as bored as Sollux was, letting her eyes skim across each row of soon-to-be graduates in black robes, pausing only for a brief moment to smile at Sollux.

Sollux wondered if this would make her sad, watching the couple hundred people in his class graduate like she never would. Probably not. Aradia was the only person Sollux had ever met that was capable of making the most of her death., though she hadn’t always been so optimistic, especially when she first died. Sollux remembered their conversation, which took place shortly after Sollux realized that if he couldn’t deny he loved Aradia, then he couldn’t deny what had happened in her past.

“There was a moment when I know I was going to die, when I could no longer bear the blood and the faces of my parents distorted in an all too natural agony, and in that moment I felt an intense desire to stay.” Aradia had explained one afternoon. “I got my wish and my soul stayed rather than move on to whatever afterlife exists, but I was broken. I mourned my death along with my parents, stayed with them until I could no longer bear seeing the sadness I had caused them. I felt empty and scared, and there was no one to tell me what to do next. Eventually I came to the high school, what I viewed as a symbol of a normal life, but nothing changed. I watched people throw their lives away, and it made me so angry.  And then one day I realized something. Do you know what it was?"

It took a moment of Aradia staring at Sollux for him to realize he was supposed to answer.

"What?"

"It didn't matter. I was already gone, and nothing was going to bring me back. Here I was, a dead girl who thought she knew more about living than the people who were doing it! The absurdity of the situation was too much for me, and I had to change. Oh, it took time. But one day I was able to listen to people complain and realize their struggles were as valid as mine, different as they may be. I didn't really care what they did, or didn't do, after that. I simply observed, and even started listening to a few social studies classes. That's when I realized I still wanted to be an archaeologist, though I knew achieving that goal was even more impossible than the dream I had when I was a little kid of literally becoming Indiana Jones."

Aradia had been quiet afterwards, something she was more comfortable with now that Sollux and her had become closer. She was still cheerful and happy the majority of the time Sollux talked to her, but now she didn't fake being so when she wasn't. Being a ghost didn't exclude a person from being sad. If anything, it gave the person more of a reason to be so. Sollux simply became better at cheering Aradia up, just as she had done for him so many times in the past, and their relationship continued to evolve.

Sollux was shaken from his memories when the people sitting in front of him stood and begun to file towards the stage. Of all the times to lose track of the present by looking back on the past, during graduation speeches was probably one of the best. When it was Sollux's turn to walk to the stage, shake hands with the smiling principal, and take the piece of paper that symbolized four years of work, he glanced up to Aradia. She was smiling and clapping her hands together, a display for show rather than the production of any actual sound. Sollux tried to imagine her clap was audible, that she could add to the loud applause. Shaking his head slightly, Sollux tried to dispel the delusion while the other students received their diplomas. Aradia's existence, light as it may be, was enough. He could not ask for anything more.

* * *

 

The day after graduation Sollux went to the park, sitting on a bench that was close to a thick mass of trees, and so far from everything in else in the park that Sollux imagined it had been forgotten long ago. He rested the book on his lap, a heavy thing that claimed to have information on ancient ruins from all around the world, and tapped his pen lightly on the cover. Aradia arrived a few minutes later, with a smile so large it might have been disturbing had Sollux not known the reason for it.

              "Hi Sollux!" Aradia said "You brought the book, right?"

Aradia's excitement was infectious.

"Yeah," Sollux replied, picking it up so she had a better view of it. "We need to pick out where we're going so I can start planning the details of the trip."

The book was pulled from Sollux's grasp and floated in the air. Aradia settled next to Sollux on the bench and opened the book in front of them.

"You're sure we can go anywhere?" Aradia asked, turning to face Sollux.

Sollux sighed at the question he had answered many times before.

"Yes Aradia, I've already talked to my dads about it and they've agreed the travel experience will be good for me. They've done well enough to afford this trip, and I've got my own money saved from doing some freelance computer work. If I have to, I can do some while traveling."

"Absolutely not!" Aradia declared, levitating up just enough to be eye level with Sollux. "If you're going to travel, you're going to actually see what you're paying for. There will be no staying inside doing computer work when there's a city you've never seen before just waiting to be explored."

Sollux smiled, and uncapped his pen. "We better pick out some interesting places to visit then. Please tell me, what are the best places to go to hear about dead people and look at the monuments built by those not quite forgotten?"

"Ah, let me consult with the all-knowing spirits." Aradia's eyes turned completely white and her skin grayed in a display that had shocked Sollux in the past, but now just amused him.

"They've answered! Aradia declared, returning to her normal appearance. "They've told me to google it."

Sollux shook his head sadly. "You just can't find good spiritual guidance these days."

Aradia laughed. "Oh, what is the price of technology" She cried dramatically, leaning back against Sollux.

He joined in with laughter of his own, enjoying the warmth she brought when she touched him even though the summer day was already becoming too hot. He loved her laugh and smile, her words and ideas, and he loved her touch, which was like a ray of sun, not solid but there all the less.

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me on my tumblr, my username is rustarisen (Feel free to send me prompts there too). Any criticism is greatly appreciated!


End file.
